NXF — The Board — 2025

A time for action

By Adam Long NXF Board Director

It has been a busy period for the NXF in recent months. In conjunction with GCN, which we publish, we once again staged a highly successful GALAS. The awards, which have been running since 2009, see our community coming together in all our rainbow vibrancy to honour the amazing work undertaken by so many to improve the lives of LGBTQ+ people in Ireland and beyond.

We were delighted to honour President Michael D. Higgins with a special Lifetime Achievement award. President Higgins, who departs office shortly, has been a consistent and long-standing champion of our community throughout his political career. He carried that support into his presidency, one example of which was his very public show of solidarity with librarians and LGBTQ+ people in the face of harassment and abuse from far-right agitators.

Also among the award recipients this year was the President of Budapest Pride, Viktória Radványi, who we were delighted to honour with our International Activist accolade. Viktória and the wider LGBTQ+ community in Hungary have been truly inspirational in the face of appalling oppression. Budapest Pride was targeted with a ban by the far-right Orbán regime, in a move modelled directly on Putin’s Russia. In response to such shameful state-sanctioned homophobia and persecution, in an EU member state no less, it was truly inspiring to see hundreds of thousands of people turn out for Pride in the Hungarian capital, marking the largest-ever such gathering in that country. The support provided to Budapest Pride by the Irish Embassy deserves to be highlighted in this context.

This author also had the opportunity to sit down with Taoiseach Micheal Martin as part of our NXF Pride Series of interviews. The Taoiseach agreed that in attacking the most basic and fundamental human rights of LGBTQ+ Hungarians, the Orbán regime was seeking to undermine European liberal democratic norms and values more generally.

We also spoke about Hate Crime legislation, which has long been a priority for the LGBTQ+ and other communities targeted by hate. While this was finally secured in 2024, important provisions intended to modernise outdated laws regarding incitement to hatred were dropped. I told the Taoiseach that this was highly disappointing and represented a failure of political leadership in the face of much disinformation. He agreed that the government could have done a better job in its communications around the legislation. The NXF and colleagues who advocate on behalf of those communities directly impacted by hate will continue to press for greater legislative protections in this crucially important area.

On a similar note, we once again chaired the annual Pride Political Debate this year, where all the leading policy priorities for our community were discussed at length, including the pressing need to tackle rising hate (particularly in the online space), trans healthcare, and progress towards securing a comprehensive, no-loopholes ban on so-called ‘conversion’ practices.

More recently, the NXF was delighted to host Brussels-based NGOs during their visit to Dublin in early October to rally support for LGBTQ+ rights across the EU in the face of democratic backsliding and regression in some states.

Board member Hayley Fox-Roberts also notes: “The NXF organised an Activist Academy this year with great success, with 24 participants from around the country coming together to sharpen their activism tools. Thanks to funding from the Irish Human Rights & Equality Commission (IHREC), participants were able to hear from experienced campaigners ways in which to develop their skills, plan campaigns and network effectively.

“Following an opening panel discussion, where six leading activists gave their overview of the history of LGBTQ+ activism in Ireland, 10 facilitators expertly led workshops on seven key themes of Looking Inwards/Intersectionality, Communications, Resilience, Political Understanding, Getting Organised, Building Coalitions and Resistance. After our follow-on webinar in November, GCN will feature more information about this enjoyable and productive event.”